


Falling For You

by Harlton



Category: Asagao Academy: Normal Boots Club
Genre: Angst, First posted fic woo, M/M, This is mostly dialogue sorry, au where nick is an angel and josh is a demon, i guess?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-17
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2020-10-20 07:36:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20671667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Harlton/pseuds/Harlton





	1. Falling For You

“I think it’s interesting that Nick is a Power and not, you know, a run of the mill angel. But you’re just referred to as a demon.” Paul asked up at Josh. He was laying his head on the demon’s lap. Josh’s tail was aimlessly petting his hair as he asked question after question.

“That’s because angels like categories. They’re essentially a glorified bureaucracy.” Josh chuckled to himself. “Literally glorified, I guess”

“He’s just bitter that he doesn’t get a fancy title. We’re categorized by different jobs, but generally speaking demons all have the same job.” Nick piped up from the other end of the couch.

“Not sure if that’s a good business model. If it worked, you’d be trying to kill me right now.”

“Can’t wait for your Heaven critical Martin Luther-esque list.” Paul mumbled. He raised his eyebrows at Josh with an incredulous look.

“Heaven’s a sham because their angels don’t do their jobs because they’ve been forced into rigid occupational roles. In this essay I will.” Josh began to proclaim to an imaginary crowd.

“Where’s the rest of the essay op?” Nick added, not taking his eyes off the TV as he mumbled out his reply. Josh looked at him in disgust at his pronunciation of op as a word.

“Martin Luther didn’t even write an essay…” Paul rolled his eyes and paused before carrying on his informal interrogation. “Were you ever an angel, Josh? Supposedly either a ton or all demons are fallen angels.”

“If I was, I don’t remember.” Josh raised his hands in defense at the surprised looks that he received. “Listen, it’s been a few millennia. I think I’m allowed to forget things.”

Nick smirked and patted Josh on the shoulder. “Leave him be, he’s getting old.”

“Can’t wait until I’m senile...”

"You said Nick's job was to kill you, but isn't yours to kill him too?" Paul asked yet another question and Josh just sighed.

"A demon's job is really just to cause misfortune. It's not specific in the details." 

"The murder is implied." Nick muttered.

Josh shrugged. "Never was very good at following the rules anyway."

Paul sat up and looked over at his angelic partner. "What about you? You're disobeying orders. How come you haven’t fallen?"

Nick's brow furrowed and he absentmindedly reached to touch his wings, checking if they were still there. "I'm not... sure?" He looked between Paul and Josh before continuing. "I mean, I was told to love humans, so I suppose I'm doing that part right. But, I figured-"

"That you'd fall for me?" Josh cut him off with a grin. Nick rolled his eyes.

"I wouldn't have worded it like that, but I suppose so."

Josh’s smile fell “So you knew you were going to fall the whole time?”

“Let’s… not talk about it right now.” Nick averted his eyes, deciding to stare at the floor rather than look over at his companions.

“No, no. What the fuck were you planning to do? Falling isn’t exactly a good thing.”  
“That’s just what Heaven says so Angels don’t disobey…”

“That’s bullshit!” Josh sat forward and shifted to turn to Nick fully, knocking Paul off the couch in the process.

“Hey, whoa, calm down. Shouting won’t solve-”  
“Literally every fallen angel I’ve ever spoken to never shuts up about how much falling hurts.” Josh was only becoming more animated, but he carried on with his rage. “Crashing down to Earth or worse, down to Hell. Your wings burning up as you crash. I’m not sure if you know what being set on fire is like but trust me, it's not a pleasurable experience.”

“Josh, please, let’s talk about this when we’re calm.” Paul got back up to press his hands against Josh’s chest, trying to hold him back in case the situation turned violent. He pulled away almost instantly due to the burning heat that radiated from the demon. 

“Fine.” Nick stood and Paul turned to him to grab his arm trying to get him reseated.

“Wait, no, don’t make any rash decisions-” Nick shook him off and backed away.

“If you’re so against me falling then… I won’t fall. I’ll leave and I guess if I come back, I’ll do my job properly.” As quickly as he had made the decision, Nick was out the door. Josh stared at the floor as Paul snapped out of his shock. Paul raced to the door but looked out only to find that Nick had already vacated the premises. 

“What the fuck did we do…” He mumbled to himself before looking back at Josh in horror. “What the fuck did YOU do?”


	2. Bouncing Back

It had been a week. A whole week since Nick walked out on them. Josh was still bitter about the whole situation. He blamed Nick whenever Paul brought it up and generally refused to even think about making amends. Paul hadn’t been taking it much better. He had taken up post in Nick’s beds and more often than not decided to sleep with his back to Josh leaving the demon to blankly stare across the room at the man that seemingly used to love him.

It had been a week and then something changed. Nick had come back or so Josh had heard from Paul texting him out of the blue. The message was a warning. It brought back memories of Nick’s parting message. 

_ I guess if I come back, I’ll do my job properly. _

But even despite that, Paul was still urging Josh to apologize. Josh couldn’t even fathom it being his fault. He just wanted to keep Nick safe and believed that it was Nick’s fault for making the decision without even counseling him and Paul.

Nick was still upset, Paul made that clear and Josh knew that Nick didn’t come back for him. He came back for Paul. Josh knew he couldn’t go back to their dorm without apologizing, lest he get smote on sight. He guessed that one way or another, he’d have to apologize. He wouldn’t admit it aloud, but he missed Nick too. So, he found himself trudging back to the dorm, trying to think of what to say. Before long he found himself standing before his own door with absolutely no idea what he was going to do. Despite his reservations, he opened the door which, regretfully, let out a creak. Paul noticed first, looking nervous. When Nick turned, his face sank. He grimaced at the sight of Josh. Josh ducked his head, unwilling to make eye contact.

“What are you doing here? Didn’t believe Paul’s warnings?” Nick asked, venom lacing his words.

“I believed them, that’s why I’m here. He wanted me to apologize.” Josh’s words were barely a mumble. It hadn’t been until he saw Nick that guilt wracked his body.

“And?”

“And you’ll have to give me a minute on that...”

Paul looked between Nick and Josh as the room fell silent. He made sure to insert himself between the two, fearful that another fight would break out.

“I wanted…” Josh started before cutting himself off, taking a deep breath, and trying a second attempt. “I didn’t want you to be in pain. I was upset because you made an important decision without us.”

Nick shrugged. “It was my decision to make. I made it for you anyway.”

“I didn’t want that.” Josh muttered through gritted teeth. Paul placed a hand on his shoulder. 

“Well what would have happened instead? I would have fallen if I stayed either way. At least I accepted it…”

“Hey, we don’t know that. Maybe there’s a way around it.” Paul interjected, casting concerned glances between the other two.  
“Yeah, leaving. Like I did.”

Josh looked up at Nick, tears welling up in his eyes. “Listen, I’m sorry. Okay? I... sort of overreacted.”

“Sort of?” Nick asked, crossing his arms.

“Only sort of. I still think that we should talk about this together, but I guess I shouldn’t have freaked out.”

“Someone needs to teach you demons to apologize better.” Nick smirked and Josh gave a weak smile in return.

“Oh, you’re right. Apologizing goes great with the whole causing misery and misfortune thing.” An uneasy lull filled the room. Joking aside, neither party knew where to go from here.

“I’m… Sorry too.” Josh raised an eyebrow. Although he’d been blaming Nick, he couldn’t fathom that he needed to apologize now that he was standing in front of him. “I shouldn’t have just walked out. I just needed time to cool off.”

“I, uh, forgive you… So long as you forgive me, I guess.” Josh’s eyes fell back to the ground. He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

“Yeah, don’t worry. I forgive you too. It’s... Nice to be back.”

Paul took this as a sign to wrap his arms around Nick and Josh’s shoulders. “Well now that that’s all settled. Can we please all sleep in Josh’s bed tonight?” Paul turned to give Nick a dumb grin. “Honestly, I don’t know what you’ve done to your bed but it’s super uncomfortable, how do you sleep like that?”

Nick sighed and Josh looked at Paul with raised eyebrows. “Is that the reason you were so insistent on us apologizing?”

“I mean… No… I just missed the three of us, you know?” Paul dropped his arms, he looked like he was curling in on himself. “It felt weird without you around, Nick.”

Nick wrapped a wing around Paul’s shoulders and smiled at Josh. That smile, the small gesture of everything being alright again almost made Josh cry.

“Well then… How about we catch up over ice cream? You wouldn’t believe the gossip I have about Heaven this time.”

Nick held out his hand to Josh who took it hesitantly. Despite all that had happened, the feeling of his hand laced with Nick’s filled him with hope and calm. He figured they’d been through worse than an argument and bounced back. They’d always bounce back.

“Ice cream sounds nice…”


End file.
